Thursday, January 14, 2010

Smoothie in a Bowl

Remember my post about not really digging smoothies in the a.m.? Yea, I like to sit down to breakfast, but I do love the taste (and nutritional punch) of smoothies. I've finally found the solution — raw blended "oats"! And that's really just a fancy way of sayin' "smoothie in a bowl with some nuts and stuff."

All week, I've been enjoying these Raw Blended "Oat" Bowls:

I found the recipe online but adapted it a little. It actually contains no oats at all, but rather banana, apple, cinnamon, flax seed, and a touch of acai powder. The acai is purely optional of course, but I won a bag from Lindsay at Cooking for a Vegan Lover. I've been adding a teaspoon to my "oats" for an antioxidant boost. Tomorrow, I'm gonna swap the acai for some raw cacao powder that I just acquired.

Another plus to smoothies in a bowl — you can add crunchy extras like walnuts and currants! Try drinking those through a straw. Yep, didn't think so.

Soak the flax seed in 1/4 cup water overnight. The next morning, combine the flax seed, soaking water, banana, apple chunks, and cinnamon (also any powdered add-ins) in a blender and blend until smooth. You may need to add another 1/4 cup of water to make it blend well.

Stir in nuts and dried fruits. Eat in a bowl with a big ole' spoon.

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Since I'm at the halfway point in my 26-day Adventure Cleanse Tune-Up, I guess I should give you guys an update on how I feel. Honestly, I don't feel all that different. I have a little more sustained energy in my daily workouts. But I do feel the mid-afternoon crash way worse than before. I blame that on the lack of coffee, which I am still whining about.

And it certainly feels good knowing that I'm eating all kinds of goodness, but I wouldn't want to eat like this forever. I like processed foods, coffee, alcohol, wheat, and sugar (unrefined of course) way too much.

One thing I have noticed: I used to get really shaky and weak when I was hungry. If I didn't get food in me fast, I felt like I was going to die. But since I've been off sugar, I've noticed that my hunger isn't so urgent anymore. I guess all the sugar I was eating was really messing with my blood sugar, but the agave and high-glycemic fruits I've been consuming lately don't seem to have a bad effect. I've been reading a lot about the effects of sugar in Alicia Silverstone's new book, The Kind Diet. That being said, I'm not giving up evaporated cane juice or turbinado when this cleanse is over. I may try to cut back though.

oooh, i love the idea of raw blended oats. i wish i had thought about it or come across it when i was doing my ACT cleanse - would have made it all that much more yummier. they look so good, Bianca! i've never had acai before, but i see it at our natural food store. it's a little expensive, but if it ever goes on sale i'm totally picking some up! w00t! that's cool that your hunger doesn't seem so urgent - and i think the fact that you aren't feeling too different just means that you were eating awesomely before! yay! i love the raw mashed taters from your last post, and you know i can't get enough of your collard greens - next time we make 'em i'm going to try them with agave, too!

p.s.- the new recipe on the tester site isn't coordinating with what it should be. i'm seeing an old recipe with a new picture. i might e-mail ya about it later today.

It is so cool to hear how you are feeling now that you are half way through. I try to really limit my refined sugar intake (sometimes I'm successful, other days not so much) because more than anything else it can throw me for a loop. It is interesting to note that you don't 'crash' so hard anymore. Food for thought!

The blended 'oats' look amazingly good, I think I would love to have that for breakfast.

The smoothie in a bowl sounds so good :) Katie from http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com has a few similar recipes (check out her "banana bread in a bowl")Also, I recently read The Kind Diet and I absolutely LOVE it. It's so informative and I totally don't mind replacing 90% of my sugar needs with Agave :)after a while, I've noticed my taste buds getting more sensitive and now ripe bananas taste frighteningly sweet to me :P

My name is Bianca ...

About Me

I'm a 9-year vegan, 19-year vegetarian from the Mid-South, not too far from the muddy banks of the Mississippi River. And that means cornbread, butter beans, and collard greens.
These days, I live in Memphis. Check out my cookbook — Cookin' Crunk. It's filled with yummilicious veganized soul food and country classics.